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<i>Homeland</i> – “There’s Something Else Going On” Retrospective. Live or Die.

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  • November 23, 2014

  • 9 mins to read

Homeland – “There’s Something Else Going On” Retrospective. Live or Die.

Season 4, Episode 9

Air Date: Sunday, November 23, 2014, 9:00 pm ET/PT on Showtime

Rating: ★★★★★

 

“You are a traitor…and I am the fucking CIA!” – Carrie Mathison

Hank Wonham (Alex LanTpekun) watches as the Taliban prisoners are released into his care.

While “There’s Something Else Going On” starts as benignly as many episodes of Homeland do, it sure doesn’t end like that. The title doesn’t even begin to describe what happens in the episode besides the obvious. With the United States capitulating on the prisoner exchange, and Colonel Aasar Khan (Raza Jaffrey) telling Carrie (Claire Danes) that Professor Dennis Boyd (Mark Moses) is the one who switched her pills in “Halfway to a Donut,” these plot points are the main focus of this latest foray into the world of terrorists.

Getting Dennis to Confess

The way the writers use John Redmond (Michael O’Keefe) to get the truth out of Dennis is brilliant. Too bad it doesn’t work. Dennis is a little too smart to fall for the friendly approach. So enter Carrie, who is hell bent and determined to get a confession out of him. I must say, Dennis is one cool cookie. It doesn’t matter what Carrie says or what she threatens, he maintains his innocence. But when Carrie starts talking about the effects the fake pills had on her, it shakes his calm demeanor.

Carrie: “I ended up wandering around Islamabad in the middle of the night with no idea where I was or what I was doing.”

Dennis: “I’m gonna ask for that lawyer now.”

Carrie: “You poisoned me. I could have died out there! You think I’m going to let you talk to a lawyer? Sit the fuck down!”

Redmond does his best to get the truth out of Dennis.

You go girl! But later on, when Carrie shows Dennis the video of Sandy Bachman’s (Corey Stoll) brutal death, he remains stoic. I don’t understand Dennis; how can he not break down at the sight of his best friend being pummeled to death in the streets? Color me shocked when later, Dennis’ wife, Ambassador Martha Boyd (Laila Robins), interrupts his interrogation and threatens Carrie. I should have known it was another ploy to break Dennis. Kudos to Robins for turning in such a convincing performance. Even after she takes Dennis back to their quarters, she continues the role of the understanding and protective wife. I wanted to smack that cat-bird look right off Dennis’ face as he thinks Martha is on his side. Once she has the guard imprison him, though, all bets are off.

The Prisoner Exchange

Hank turns the prisoners over to Quinn.

When will people ever learn to trust Carrie’s instincts? She’s been right about the most important things in every season of Homeland so far, so I don’t get why CIA Director Andrew Lockhart (Tracy Letts) doesn’t want to warn the White House about Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar) like Carrie requests. I know Carrie doesn’t have any concrete proof that Haqqani is planning something in addition to the prisoner exchange but that has never stopped her from being right before. The stark contrast between how the United States prepares for the exchange and how Haqqani prepares is quite interesting. The Taliban prisoners we send to the exchange site are well-fed, rested, and clean. Saul (Mandy Patinkin), on the other hand, is hungry from only having a few sips of tea offered by a young boy (Dayne Green), exhausted from sleeping on a floor, and dirty. Haqqani’s only concession is having a woman (Esperanzia Adonis) clean the blood from Saul’s face.

It is not until later in “There’s Something Else Going On” that I understood the child’s presence in the room where Haqqani, alongside a beaten down Saul, sends his message of terror via video. Haqqani has the lad stay the night with Saul, give him the aforementioned tea, and accompany him to the exchange site. What Haqqani has the young boy do during the exchange is the sign of a true monster. It also speaks to the reality of war, and is very sad when the reason the boy is willing to help comes to light.

Redmond finalizes the plans with Tasneem and the Pakistani minister (Art Malik).

The last 15 minutes of “There’s Something Else Going On” – the actual prisoner exchange — are intense; I don’t think I took a single breath until the episode was over. With Lockhart, Quinn (Rupert Friend), and the Ambassador watching from the control room, with Quinn providing commentary on what’s happening, and Carrie and Redmond on the ground surrounded by U.S. forces, both sides roll their trucks onto the airstrip for the exchange. Everything appears to be going smoothly until Saul decides not to participate. Not only does he initially fight to remain in the SUV he came in, later he sits on the tarmac and refuses to take a step towards Carrie. What follows is the most heart-wrenching scene of the entire episode as Carrie tries to convince Saul to come home. I was actually sobbing; that’s right, sobbing. I’m not talking about shedding a few tears here.

The “Something Else”

Remember the napkin on which Tasneem (Nimrat Kaur) wrote Dennis’ next task in “Halfway to a Donut?” Well, I’ve been wondering about that. What happens in the last five minutes of “There’s Something Else Going On” not only made me jump out of my seat, it finally moves Dennis to tell Martha what was on the napkin, which just happens to be the “something else” in the title of the episode. All I will say is once a coward, always a coward. If I didn’t know better, with everyone’s lives hanging in the balance, I’d say “What a wonderful season finale.” Of course, this isn’t the season finale so I can’t wait to see what happens next both out on the street and inside the embassy.

Additional Thoughts

The measure of a man can be proven by his actions under duress, and that’s exactly what Saul does when he comforts the young child in the middle of a terrifying nightmare.

Khan proves himself to be even more of an asset for Carrie during the planning stages of the exchange, secretly telling Carrie via cell phone he was left out of the ISI’s initial plans. He takes a big chance doing this but at least it alerts Carrie something isn’t quite right.

During times of extreme stress, a person’s true emotions normally rise to the forefront. That’s what happens with Saul’s wife Mira (Sarita Choudhury) as she calls Carrie and begs her not to interfere with Saul’s release. As if Carrie would ever do that! She loves Saul just as much as, if not more than, Mira.

Overall

“There’s Something Else Going On” moves the story lines ahead beautifully while providing some interesting character studies of both Saul and Dennis. The two men couldn’t be more opposite if they tried. Patinkin and Moses provide top-notch acting, as do Danes, Robins, and O’Keefe, along with some stellar writing. With only three episodes left in the season, and with the ending of the episode, I can’t help wondering where Homeland is going next.

What did you think of “There’s Something Else Going On?” Leave your comments below or hit me up on Twitter @SeasideTV.

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Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!

Linda

Love TV, movies, and books--mostly mysteries, with a good love story thrown in every now and then. I have four adopted dogs who I adore. I love trying new recipes, and enjoy eating what I make. English language perfectionist. Reading in bed, Italian food, warm weather, the beach, all types of games = favs!